document_title: Basketball court

question_text: where is the free throw line measured from

text: Basketball court

text: Dimensions[edit]

text: Basketball courts come in different sizes. In the National Basketball Association (NBA), the court is 94 by 50 feet (28.7 by 15.2 m). Under International Basketball Federation (FIBA) rules,[1] the court is minutely smaller, measuring exactly 28 by 15 metres (91.9 by 49.2 ft). A high school court is slightly smaller, at 84 by 50 feet (25.6 by 15.2 m).[citation needed] In amateur basketball, court sizes vary widely. The baskets are always 10 feet (3.0 m) above the floor (except possibly in youth competition). Basketball courts have a three-point arc at both baskets. A basket made from behind this arc is worth three points; a basket made from within this line, or with a player's foot touching the line, is worth 2 points. The free-throw line, where one stands while taking a foul shot, is located within the three-point arc at 15 feet from the basket. A foul shot is worth 1 point, but if a shot is made from the foul line while in play it is still worth 2 points.[2]

text: Diagrams[edit]

text:
A diagram of a FIBA basketball court

Composite diagram of a basketball court with FIBA (top half only), NBA (both halves), and NCAA (men’s & women’s – bottom half only) markings

The backboard and basket

NCAA backboard and basket (2008)

text: Layout prescribed by the rules of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the National Basketball Association (NBA), and a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

text: Table[edit]

text:
Area
NBA
FIBA
WNBA
NCAA[3]
U.S. H.S.
U.S. Junior H.S.

Imperial
Metric
Imperial
Metric
Imperial
Metric
Imperial
Metric
Imperial
Metric
Imperial
Metric

Court length
94 ft
28.65 m
91.86 ft
28 m
Same as NBA
84 ft
25.60 m
74 ft
22.56 m

Court width
50 ft
15.24 m
49.21 ft
15 m
Same as NBA
42 ft
12.80 m

Rim height
10 ft
3.05m
Same as NBA

Restricted arc radius
4 ft
1.22 m
4.10 ft
1.25 m
Same as NBA
3 ft
0.91 m
Non-existent

Center circle diameter
12 ft
3.66 m
11.81 ft
3.6 m
Same as NBA

3-point line distance from the basket
23.75 ft
22 ft in corner*
7.24 m
6.70 m in corner*
22.15 ft
21.65 ft in corner†
6.75 m
6.60 m in corner†
Same as FIBA
20.75 ft
6.32 m
19.75 ft
6.01 m
Same as high school

Key (shaded lane or
restricted area) width
16 ft
4.88 m
16.08 ft
4.9 m
Same as NBA
12 ft
3.66 m
Same as NCAA

Free-throw line distance from point on the floor directly below the backboard
15 ft
4.57 m
15.09 ft
4.6 m
Same as NBA

text: * The NBA three-point line is 3 ft (0.91 m) from the sideline in a zone starting at the baseline and ending when it crosses the 23.75 ft (7.24 m) arc. The 22 ft (6.70 m) measurement applies only at a point where a line parallel to the baseline intersects the long axis of the court and the center of the basket.

text: † The FIBA three-point line is 2.95 ft (0.90 m) from the sideline in a zone starting at the baseline and ending when it crosses the 22.1 ft (6.75 m) arc. The 21.65 ft (6.60 m) measurement applies only at a point where a line parallel to the baseline intersects the long axis of the court and the center of the basket.

text: Sections[edit]

text: Center circle[edit]

text: The only two players permitted to enter this area prior to the tipoff are the players contesting the jump ball (usually but not always centers). Both players jump when the referee throws the ball in the air, each attempting to tap the ball into the hands of a player of their own team.

text: Three-point line[edit]

text: The three-point line is the line that separates the two-point area from the three-point area; any shot converted beyond this line counts as three points. If the shooting player steps on the line, it is counted as two points. Any foul made in the act of shooting beyond the three-point line would give the player three free throws if the shot does not go in, and one if it does.

text: The distance to the three-point line from the center of the basket varies depending on the level or league, and has changed several times. These are the current distances, with the league or level using each distance:

text: 19.75 ft (6.02 m): High School

text: 20.75 ft (6.35 m): NCAA

text: 21.65 ft (6.68 m) to 22.15 ft (6.75 m): WNBA and FIBA

text: 22 ft (6.991 m) to 23.75 ft (7.24 m): NBA

text: The NBA adopted the three-point line at the start of the 1979–80 season. This is of variable distance, ranging from 22 feet (6.7 m) in the corners to 23.75 feet (7.24 m) behind the top of the key. During the 1994–95, 1995–96 and 1996–97 seasons, the NBA attempted to address decreased scoring by shortening the overall distance of the line to a uniform 22 feet (6.7 m) around the basket. It was moved back to its original distance after the 1996–97 season. FIBA and the NCAA both adopted the three-point line in 1985.

text: In most high school associations in the United States, the distance is 19.75 feet. This was formerly the distance for college basketball as well. On May 26, 2007, the NCAA playing rules committee agreed to move the three-point line back one foot to 20.75 feet for the men. This rule went into effect for the 2008–2009 season. The three-point line for women (NCAA) moved back one foot to 20.75 feet at the start of the 2011–2012 season.

text: The international distance, used in most countries outside the United States and in FIBA and WNBA competition, is currently 6.6 m (21.65 ft) to 6.75 m (22.15 ft).

text: Perimeter[edit]

text: The perimeter is defined as the areas outside the free throw lane and inside the three-point line. Shots converted (successfully made) from this area are called "perimeter shots" or "medium-range shots." If a player's foot is on the three-point line, the shot is considered a perimeter shot.

text: Low post area[edit]

text: The low post is defined as the areas that are closest to the basket but outside of the free throw lane.[4] This area is fundamental to strategy in basketball. Skilled low post players can score many points per game without ever taking a jump shot.

text: Key[edit]

text: The key, free throw lane or shaded lane refers to the usually painted area beneath the basket; for the NBA it is 16 feet (4.9 m) wide, for the NCAA it is 12 feet (3.7 m) wide; for both instances it extends 15 feet (4.6 m) from the backboard. At the top of the rectangle is the free throw line, behind which players shoot uncontested shots when they're fouled. A circle is drawn around the free-throw line with a 6 feet (1.8 m) radius; this is used for jump ball instances, as is done at the center circle. Two 6-inch hash lines, 3 ft from the free throw lane line and 5 ft 8 in from the free throw line, show the lower defensive box linked to the restricted area.

text: For FIBA tournaments, since October 2010 the key has been a rectangle 4.9 m wide and 5.8 m long. Previously it was a trapezoid 3.7 meters (12 ft) wide at the free-throw line and 6 meters (19 feet and 6.25 inches) at the end line.

text: The key is primarily used to prevent players from staying beneath the basket of the opponents' team for long periods (maximum three seconds).

text: Restricted area arc[edit]

text: The restricted area arc is a semi-circular arc drawn around the area directly underneath the basket. With some exceptions, members of the defending team cannot draw charging fouls in this area. The restricted arc in all North American rule sets above high school level (NCAA men's and women's, NBA, and WNBA) has a radius 4 feet (1.22 m) from below the center of the basket. The NCAA restricted area arc was originally established for the 2011–12 men's and women's seasons at a 3-foot (0.91 m) radius from below the center of the basket, and was extended to match the (W)NBA radius for the 2015–16 season and beyond.

text: Other lines[edit]

text: On NBA floors, two hash marks are drawn at the end lines near the key to mark the area known as the lower defensive box. A defensive player is allowed to draw a charging foul within the restricted arc if the offensive player receives the ball and/or starts his drive within this area.[5]

text: Also, two lines are drawn on each of the sidelines, 28 feet from each of the endlines, which designates the extent of the coaching box and bench. This line marks the farthest extent a coach (aside from the sidelines) can stand. Directly behind this area is the team bench.

text: On the half-court line of NBA floors two lines extend outside the playing court, designating the place where substitutes wait before they can enter the playing court; directly behind this area are the various off-court officials such as the timekeeper and reserve referee.

text: FIBA changes[edit]

text: On April 26, 2008, FIBA announced several major rules changes involving the court markings. These changes took effect for major international competitions on October 1, 2010, after that year's World Championships for men and women, and became mandatory for other competitions on October 1, 2012 (although national federations could adopt the new markings before 2012). The changes were as follows.[6]

text:
The shape of the key changed from a trapezoid to a rectangle as it is in the NBA, with NBA dimensions.
The three-point line moved back to 6.75 metres (22 ft 1.7 in) from 6.25 metres (20 ft 6.1 in), compared to 23 ft 9 in (7.24 m) for the NBA at the top of the arc.
The FIBA adopted the NBA's restricted area arc with a marginally wider radius of 1.25 metres (4 ft 1.2 in).


document_title: Kaa

question_text: what was the name of the snake in jungle book

root

text: Kaa

text: Kipling's Mowgli Stories[edit]

text: First introduced in the story "Kaa's Hunting" in The Jungle Book, Kaa is a huge and powerful snake, more than 100 years old and still in his prime. In "Kaa's Hunting", Bagheera and Baloo enlist Kaa's help to rescue Mowgli when the man-cub is kidnapped by Bandar-log (monkeys) and taken to an abandoned human city called the Cold Lairs. Kaa breaks down the wall of the building in which Mowgli is imprisoned in and uses his serpentine hypnosis to draw the monkeys toward his waiting jaws. Bagheera and Baloo are also hypnotized, but Mowgli is immune because he is human and breaks the spell on his friends.

tag: p

text: In The Second Jungle Book, Kaa appears in the first half of the story "The King's Ankus". After Kaa and Mowgli spend some time relaxing, bathing and wrestling, Kaa persuades Mowgli to visit a treasure chamber guarded by an old cobra beneath the same Cold Lairs. The cobra tries to kill Mowgli but its poison has dried up. Mowgli takes a jeweled item away as a souvenir, not realizing the trouble it will cause them, and Kaa departs.

text: In "Red Dog", Mowgli asks Kaa for help when his wolf pack is threatened by rampaging dholes (the red dogs of the title). Kaa goes into a trance so that he can search his century-long memory for a stratagem to defeat the dogs:

text:
“
For a long hour Mowgli lay back among the coils, while Kaa, his head motionless on the ground, thought of all that he had seen and known since the day he came from the egg.
The light seemed to go out of his eyes and leave them like stale opals, and now and again he made little stiff passes with his head, right and left, as though he were hunting in his sleep. Mowgli dozed quietly, for he knew that there is nothing like sleep before hunting, and he was trained to take it at any hour of the day or night. Then he felt Kaa's back grow bigger and broader below him as the huge python puffed himself out, hissing with the noise of a sword drawn from a steel scabbard;
"I have seen all the dead seasons," Kaa said at last, "and the great trees and the old elephants, and the rocks that were bare and sharp-pointed ere the moss grew. Art thou still alive, Manling?"

”

tag: table

text: With Kaa's help Mowgli tricks the dholes into attacking prematurely. Kaa takes no part in the resulting battle (obliquely citing his loyalty to the boy rather than to the wolves, who often caused Mowgli grief) but Mowgli and the wolves finally kill all the dholes, though not without grievous losses.

text: In "The Spring Running", as the teenage Mowgli reluctantly prepares to leave the jungle for the last time, Kaa tells Mowgli that "it is hard to cast the skin," but Mowgli knows he must cast the skin of his old life in order to grow a new one. Kaa, Baloo and Bagheera sing for Mowgli in "The Outsong", a poem and the ending of "The Spring Running".

text: Disney films[edit]

text: Disney animated films[edit]

text: In the 1967 Disney film, Kaa is markedly different from the Kipling character. Rather than being a mentor, he appears as a minor antagonist who twice manages to trap Mowgli in his coils in an attempt to eat him. He does this through the use of hypnotic eyes as opposed to the original version, in which he uses a serpentine dance to control his prey. Both of his attempts to eat Mowgli end in comical failure because he is interrupted right before he can swallow him. Kaa is depicted as cowardly, attempting to curry favor with Shere Khan whenever he is around.

text: Voice actor Sterling Holloway decided to give Kaa a lisp, a condition that composers the Sherman Brothers brought into the character's song in The Jungle Book, "Trust in Me".[1]

text: This particular version of Kaa drew inspiration from previous Disney characters that followed a similar trope, such as Tick-Tock the Crocodile from Peter Pan and the Wolf from The Sword in the Stone. Both are fixated on a specific character (namely Captain Hook and Wart, respectively) as food and comically attempt to eat them throughout the film, without success.

text: In The Jungle Book 2, Kaa - now voiced by Jim Cummings - reappears in a smaller role. He is first seen attempting to eat the man-cub as Baloo and Mowgli reprise "The Bare Necessities", but is thwarted each time. He eventually gives up, swearing he will "never again associate with man-cubs". Kaa then comes across Shanti, who is lost in the jungle in search for Mowgli. He successfully hypnotizes her and attempts to eat her, but is stopped by Ranjan. He is last seen being interrogated by Shere Khan about Mowgli's whereabouts, lying to the tiger that the boy is heading for the swamp.

text: 1994 live-action film[edit]

text: A far more menacing incarnation of the character appeared in the 1994 live-action adaptation. He was brought to life using an actual anaconda, but the bulk of his appearances were made using a mixture of CGI and animatronics. In the film, Kaa seems to serve King Louie, killing any intruders to the city when Louie summons him. Kaa attacks Mowgli inside the monkey city by tackling him into the moat and attempting to drown him, but Mowgli wounds him with a bejewelled dagger, forcing the python to flee in a pool of his own blood.

text: By the time Mowgli returns to the city with Captain William Boone (the main villain of the film) and Kitty, Kaa has fully healed from their prior confrontation. After defeating Boone, Mowgli flees with Kitty when he hears King Louie summoning the python. Boone starts gathering as much treasure as he can, but notices that the monkeys have gone silent; Kaa suddenly appears, then scares the injured Boone into the moat, where the heavy load of treasure he is carrying weighs him straight to the bottom. Desperately trying to struggle free, Boone sees the skeletal remains of Kaa's past victims just seconds before the villain finally meets his death by the python.

text: 2016 live-action film[edit]

text: Kaa appeared in Walt Disney Pictures' live-action adaptation of the animated film, directed by Jon Favreau. This version of Kaa is female and is voiced by Scarlett Johansson. This film's Kaa (like the previous Disney incarnations voiced by Sterling Holloway, Hal Smith, and Jim Cummings) desires to eat Mowgli. Luring him in by promising to keep him safe, she hypnotizes him and reveals that the boy came to live in the jungle when Shere Khan killed his father as they were travelling between villages and Bagheera found him. She also reveals to him the power of the "Red Flower" (fire) and its dangers in her vision. During her storytelling, she attempts to devour him, but Baloo spots and rescues Mowgli, denying her of her meal. She is not seen again for the rest of the film, though during the end credits, she is heard singing "Trust in Me".

text: In an interview, Johansson elaborated on Kaa, saying that she uses both her voice and hypnotic gaze to entrance Mowgli so that he cannot resist her embrace. She also says Kaa uses her story-telling to seduce and entrap Mowgli and describes Kaa as a "window into Mowgli's past". She notes that the way Kaa moves is "very alluring", describing it as "almost coquettish".[2] Johansson also sings the song "Trust in Me" in the film; she described her thoughts on the song: "It's a strange melody. We wanted it to be a lullaby, but it has a very mysterious sound."[3]

text: Other appearances[edit]

text:
In the 1967 Adventures of Mowgli Soviet cartoons, Kaa was voiced by Vladimir Ushakov. This version of the serpent, like the cartoons in general, is faithful to the original books.
In the 1989 Japanese anime series Jungle Book Shōnen Mowgli, Kaa's personality is closer to the books than the Disney series.
Kaa appeared in the short-lived 1996 animated TV series Jungle Cubs, this time seen as a friend of the other animals when they were cubs. He was voiced by Jim Cummings, who reprised this role in episodes of the animated television series Disney's House of Mouse, the 2002 direct-to-video animated film Mickey's House of Villains, and The Jungle Book 2.
Kaa also made an appearance as the snake charmer Karait's pet python in the 1997 live-action film The Second Jungle Book: Mowgli & Baloo.
Ubisoft and Disney Interactive Studios released the 2000 video game The Jungle Book Groove Party for the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 video game consoles. The game featured Kaa as a character and also featured Kaa singing "A Mood for Food".
In the 2010 cgi animated television series, Kaa is given a more ferocious personality than in the books, but at the same time he is friends and allies with Mowgli, Bagheera, and Baloo.
A mentor-like and heroic version will be voiced by Cate Blanchett in the upcoming live-action film, Mowgli, directed by Andy Serkis.

tag: ul


document_title: Property Brothers

question_text: where are the homes located on property brothers

text: Property Brothers

text: Development[edit]

text: Drew was offered a gig as a host of a real estate competition show that ultimately didn't materialize.[5] Cineflix, however, wanted Drew for a show tentatively called My Dream Home, with the intention of finding a female co-host.[6] When they learned he had a brother who was also in real estate,[7][5] the production company asked the brothers to make a sizzle reel.[8] Jonathan and Drew submitted a video of themselves making over their older brother's living room.[9] Six months went by before Cineflix responded favorably, and a week later they began filming a pilot for the show in Toronto.[8][10] Originally, the production company wanted Drew to work as the contractor because of his physique; however, when they realized that Jonathan was licensed, they switched the roles.[11]

text: Cineflix searched for a distributor, and six months went by with no offers. But then, off the strength of the pilot, the W Network in Canada ordered a full season,[10] while HGTV initially passed.[10] When HGTV noted the show's success in Canada, however, they chose to condense the existing episodes to 30 minutes and air them on a trial basis.[10] After the show scored number-one ratings for its timeslot, the network picked the show up for distribution in the US.[10]

text: Premise[edit]

text: Using the expertise of the Scott brothers, prospective homebuyers find a "fixer-upper" and remodel it into their dream home while staying within their budget. The featured families and individuals are often working towards a deadline, like the birth of a child or a special occasion. Originally, each episode started with Drew showing potential homebuyers a house with everything on their wish list, only to later reveal that the house was outside of their reach financially. However, beginning with season 6 (10),[N 1] Drew began to explain from the start that the home would exceed their budget, and should only serve as inspiration. In either scenario, Drew and Jonathan then highlight the advantages of purchasing an older home. Afterwards, Drew takes the buyers on a tour of homes that are significantly less ideal, but have renovation potential, and the buyers are asked to narrow their choices down to two. Jonathan then uses computer-generated imagery to illustrate his imagined vision for the homes after significant renovations. The graphics are made by an outside company using Neezo Renders software at a cost of about $10,000 per episode.[12][13] After the family makes a final decision, Drew leads them through the process of bidding on and purchasing a home. Once a purchase is made, Jonathan and his team begin renovations. After the initial demolition, the family is kept away from the site, and are brought back at the conclusion for the final reveal.

text: Production and distribution[edit]

text: The show's producers choose cities for filming based on a variety of factors including fan interest,[14] proximity to a major airport,[15] and diversity of architecture.[15] As is typical of home improvement shows with an accelerated renovation format, three experienced crews work on the house in tandem to finish within the four to seven week timeline.[2] The brothers hire local design, real estate, and construction companies in the cities where they film.[16] Additionally, building permits are typically ready prior to construction, and the brothers' projects take priority with their suppliers.[17][13] The buyers own the property and pay for the remodeling, but the show is able to provide about $20,000 to $25,000 worth of cash and furnishings.[14][13] The brothers do not charge for their services.[13] The total budget presented is for the three or four rooms featured on the show; the rest of the renovations are done off-camera on a separate budget and timeline.[13]

text: Persons interested in appearing on the show must come up with a shortlist of homes or a home they plan to buy, though Drew provides additional options, and reserves the right to reject their selection if the home is unsafe.[18] Producers screen applicants for their ability to make quick decisions and their availability to film for at least eight weekdays during the project.[19] Individual applicants must appear on the show with a "sidekick," whether it be a partner, friend, or family member.[20] While financial requirements for applicants vary from season to season,[13][19] the casting call for filming that will begin in March 2018 requires applicants to have a renovation and design budget of at least $90,000 with an additional contingency for unexpected expenses.[20]

text: The brothers have maintained that their shows are not contrived or scripted.[21] Homeowners are not provided with storylines or dialog, and unforeseen construction challenges are real.[22] Additionally, the homebuyers work with real project budgets.[2] However, the brothers concede that conversations may be re-shot and incidents may be reconstructed due to disruptions on set (e.g. a plane flying overhead), to highlight how protracted problems were resolved, or because the cameras did not capture the real-time shot.[23][24]

text: The show started out in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[25] Season 3 (4)[N 1] of the show was filmed in Austin, Texas for seven episodes,[26] and in Canada for the rest.[14] Part of the reason for the move was the fact that American audiences couldn't relate to the higher market prices in Canada.[13] The brothers returned to their hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia, to film in 2013.[17] In 2014, the show filmed several episodes in Atlanta, Georgia, and in Toronto. Between 2015 and 2016 they filmed in Westchester County, New York.[27][28] In 2017, they have been filming in Nashville, Tennessee, and in Toronto.[29][20]

text: Property Brothers debuted on the W Network on January 4, 2011, and aired on the channel until its owner, Corus Entertainment, decided to shift the channel's focus to more dramatic content.[30] Starting with 2017/2018 broadcast season, the show began to be broadcast on HGTV Canada in its country of origin.[30] It airs on HGTV in the United States, and with other distributors in over 150 other countries,[24] including Australia, Italy, France, Denmark, Spain, Norway, and South Africa, as well as countries throughout Latin America and Asia.[31] The show is also carried on streaming services such as Hulu,[32] Amazon Video, and Netflix (in some regions).[33] The program is dubbed in Portuguese for some markets,[34] as well as in Spanish, where the voices of both brothers is provided by the same voice actor.[33][35] Though Corus Entertainment commissioned and developed the program, the company did not take an ownership stake in the series or the concept, so did not see any revenue from international broadcast sales or from spin-off series in the franchise.[33]

text: The W Network worked with advertisers to generate revenue for the program. Scotiabank has been a sponsor.[36] In 2014, Mazda Canada Inc. announced a sponsorship in the form of embedded marketing (through product placement and story integration) to span all 13 episodes of season 4 (7)[N 1] filmed in Toronto.[37] The sponsorship also included broadcast and internet ads, billboards, and a contest on the W Network for viewers to win one of three C$5,000 prizes for their homes, a strategy designed to direct traffic to the Mazda website.[37]

text: Presenters[edit]

text: Both brothers are licensed real estate agents (Drew is a licensed agent with Keller Williams Elite in British Columbia).[25] Jonathan is also a licensed contractor.[38] Before going into real estate as a profession, however, the brothers tried acting, including minor roles in Breaker High, Smallville, and The X-Files.[35] Drew aspired to be an actor, while Jonathan sought a career as an illusionist,[7] but they began working in the real estate and design fields to financially support themselves as entertainers.[7] In 1996, they bought their first house as 18-year-old university students and, after renovations, sold it a year later for a $50,000 profit.[39][40] In 2004, they founded Scott Real Estate, Inc., a company that oversaw the sale and construction of residential and commercial projects, and that eventually had offices in Vancouver, Calgary, and Las Vegas.[3] While their business did well, after ten years went by with little to no acting jobs Drew decided to return to acting full-time.[41] In 2009, he was finally approached for what would become Property Brothers.[35] At the show's start, the twins had managed real estate holdings for 15 years.[38][35]

text: Reception[edit]

text: By 2015, Property Brothers had seen a 77-percent increase in ratings over its premiere season.[42]

text: Within three weeks of its HGTV debut in the United States, the show was the top rated of the night.[43] The fifth season attracted more than 10 million US viewers on HGTV in the 25–54 age demographic, and the series consistently ranked as a top five cable program among upscale women in the 25–54 age group.[44] As of 2017[update], Property Brothers remains one of HGTV's highest rated shows, is HGTV's number three primetime show, and averages 2 millions viewers per week.[45]

text: Consumer Reports put it on its list of best home improvement shows, saying, "We all wish Drew and Jonathan were our big brothers—and that they’d help us find our dream home."[46] Critics of the show have remarked that the high-budget home purchases and renovations are "out of touch" with the changing housing markets that favor rentals, though Kathleen Finch (an HGTV executive) has said that so-called "hatewatch is part of the appeal" of the show.[43]

text: Property Brothers has drawn notice from multiple awards. After being nominated in 2011, Drew and Jonathan won the 2012 Leo Award (the awards program for the British Columbia film and television industry) for "Best Host(s) in an Information or Lifestyle Series" for Property Brothers.[47] In 2012, they were nominated for a Rose d'Or award in the lifestyle show category.[13][48] The show has been nominated for a Cablefax Award and for Outstanding Structured Reality Program at the 2015 Emmy Awards.[49][50]

text: The program has had an impact on popular culture, and has been the subject of multiple jokes on Brooklyn 99,[51][52] Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,[53][54] The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,[55] and Saturday Night Live.[56][57]

text: Episodes[edit]

text: For its duration, Property Brothers has been produced by Cineflix and distributed by Corus Entertainment. HGTV (a subsidiary of Scripps Networks Interactive) has since joined the program in production and as an international distributor, however, has broadcast the show's episodes on a separate schedule. The chart below follows Cineflix's season schedules and Corus's air dates.[58][59] In January 2016, Cineflix renewed the show for 52 more episodes.[4]

text: On November 9, 2015, the brothers hosted an hour-long special, The Property Brothers: 100 Episodes & Counting, ahead of its 100th episode.[60] The special highlighted their favourite moments from the preceding 99 episodes, and was accompanied by the release of the Property Brothers Handbook, an mobile app that includes design tips, multimedia from the show, and "inspirational photos".[60]

text:
Season
Episodes
Filming location
Season premiere
Season finale

1
13
Toronto
January 4, 2011 (2011-01-04)
March 29, 2011 (2011-03-29)

2
13
Toronto
October 20, 2011 (2011-10-20)
January 31, 2012 (2012-01-31)

13
Toronto
February 7, 2012 (2012-02-07)
May 1, 2012 (2012-05-01)

3
7
Austin
September 4, 2012 (2012-09-04)
February 4, 2013 (2013-02-04)

19
Toronto
February 11, 2013 (2013-02-11)
September 12, 2013 (2013-09-12)

4
13
Atlanta
January 12, 2014 (2014-01-12)
N/A

13
Toronto
October 27, 2014 (2014-10-27)
N/A

5
13
Westchester County
N/A
October 28, 2015 (2015-10-28)

13
Westchester County
N/A
August 22, 2016 (2016-08-22)

6
13
Westchester County
October 24, 2016 (2016-10-24)
April 17, 2017 (2017-04-17)

13
Nashville
April 24, 2017 (2017-04-24)
TBA


document_title: Catfish: The TV Show

question_text: when does the new catfish season start 2018

text: Catfish: The TV Show

text: Plot[edit]

text:
"They used to tank cod from Alaska all the way to China. They'd keep them in vats in the ship. By the time the codfish reached China, the flesh was mush and tasteless. So this guy came up with the idea that if you put these cods in these big vats, put some catfish in with them and the catfish will keep the cod agile. And there are those people who are catfish in life. And they keep you on your toes. They keep you guessing, they keep you thinking, they keep you fresh. And I thank God for the catfish because we would be ... boring and dull if we didn't have somebody nipping at our fin."
—from Catfish
Why the term "catfish" is used to describe people who portray someone else online

tag: div

text: On the Internet, a "catfish" is a person who creates fake personal profiles on social media sites using someone else's pictures and false biographical information to pretend to be someone other than themselves. These "catfish" usually intend to trick an unsuspecting person or more into falling in love with them. The term "catfish" is derived from the title of the previously-mentioned 2010 documentary, in which filmmaker Schulman discovers that the woman with whom he'd been carrying on an online relationship had not been honest in describing herself.

text: MTV and the Catfish film's producers, Schulman and Joseph, help people who are emotionally entangled with someone they have never met in real life. Each episode is an investigation into whether or not the other participant in the virtual relationship is legitimate or if they are, in fact, a "catfish". Some couples have been communicating for a few months—others, for years.

text: Nev claims that he has received requests from people asking him for his help in determining whether or not their online-only lover is lying or truthful about their identity. In each episode the hosts help a different individual with a different story, travelling to wherever they live and using background checks and research to uncover the truth. Nev and Max contact the other person to arrange a first-ever meeting between the two virtual lovers, then document how both people are impacted.[6][7] Schulman said at the Television Critics Association press tour in August 2012 that it's not all about pulling the rug out from under people, explaining:

text: Whether or not two people are totally lying to each other and it turns out to be a huge disaster, that's only the first part of the story. We then want to know why they are doing it, who they are, what they are feeling, what led them to this place, and why that resonates with thousands of other young people who have the same feelings, who don't have someone to talk to or don't know how to express themselves.

text: Production[edit]

text: The show presents the "hopeful" as the one who initiates contact with Schulman and Joseph in an attempt to discover the true identity of their online romance, or the "catfish".  Some of the show's casting calls do solicit stories from hopefuls,[8] and casting director Michael Esposito explained in August 2015 that the show can receive more than a hundred applications a day.[9]

text: A 2013 Hollywood.com report,[10] however, explained that despite the broadcast show being structured as a search by the hopeful for true identity of the catfish, it is usually the catfish who make the first contact with MTV.  Producers then proceed to gather information about the deception from the catfish and contact the hopeful afterwards.  For legal reasons, all persons involved on the series sign contracts agreeing to appear on camera prior to the episode even entering production. In Season 3's Miranda and Camryn episode, the catfish did change their mind about meeting the hopeful, and only appeared via Skype.

text: The hosts are given no information about the catfish, and while the catfish has already agreed to appear on the show, they do not know when or how the hosts will be looking for them.

text: Nev Schulman explained more about the reverse-engineering in an August 2014 interview:[11]

text: A lot of the stories that we get come from the catfish side of things. People who feel so terrible [...] that they've been lying to a friend or a lover on the internet for a long time. They want to come clean, but they fear if they simply told the truth, the other person would [...] be very upset that they've been lied to and deceived, and likely discard them. And so they're hopeful that by coming on the show [...] maybe  we can facilitate some kind of amicable exchange, that they can be heard, explain themselves in a more objective and non-judgmental way. So [the producers] orchestrate very delicately, and staying out of it as much as possible, a scenario by which [...] the hopeful reaches out to me [...].  And so [Max and I] just pick up from there.  [The hopeful has] no idea of course that the other person's already expressed interest in meeting.  And the [catfish] doesn't know that we're actually doing it.  They just sorta think maybe it could happen. So they don't know when or why or how. So it's tricky, but everything is real. The feelings are real, the relationships are real. We haven't created any scenarios, we don't tell people what to say or do. It's very unpredictable.

text: Reception[edit]

text: The film Catfish was criticized and its authenticity questioned. Executive producer Tom Forman stresses that the TV version won't just tell "stories of deception. We've also stumbled into some love stories. We found people who are exactly who they say they are. We are putting those on television, too. We find people who are willing to get past an initial deception and really do make a connection at the end — in person and in real life. That's been really heartwarming. So I think, when we set out, we really don't know how it's going to end: good, bad, or in the middle somewhere".[1]

text: International versions[edit]

text:
Country
Name
Host(s)
Channel
No. of seasons
Broadcast

 Colombia

Catfish Colombia

Diego Saenz, Sebastián Parra

MTV

2

September 10, 2014 (2014-09-10) – November 5, 2015 (2015-11-05)

 Chile

Espías del Amor

Julio César Rodríguez (1–), Andrés Alemparte (1–), César Antonio Campos (3–), Marcelo Arismendi (1–2)

Chilevisión

3

October 27, 2015 (2015-10-27) –

 Brazil

Catfish Brasil

Ciro Sales, Ricardo Gadelha

MTV

2

August 31, 2016 (2016-08-31) – October 11, 2017 (2017-10-11)

 Mexico

Catfish Mexico

Chapu Garza, José Luis Badalt

MTV

1

March 1, 2018 (2018-03-01) –

text: Spin-offs[edit]

text: In January 2016, MTV began casting a proposed UK version of the show through online ads that do specifically target the catfish, not the hopeful: "Tired of keeping secrets from your online love? Come clean" and "Are you a secret Catfish? It's time to come clean".[12] The project was cancelled, but Schulman has said he would like to make a pan-European version.[13]

text: Series overview[edit]

text:
Season
Episodes
Season premiere
Season finale

1

12

November 12, 2012 (2012-11-12)

February 25, 2013 (2013-02-25)

2

16

June 25, 2013 (2013-06-25)

October 15, 2013 (2013-10-15)

3

10

May 7, 2014 (2014-05-07)

July 9, 2014 (2014-07-09)

4

19

February 25, 2015 (2015-02-25)

August 30, 2015 (2015-08-30)

5

20

February 24, 2016 (2016-02-24)

September 21, 2016 (2016-09-21)

6

20

March 1, 2017 (2017-03-01)

August 30, 2017 (2017-08-30)

7

TBA

January 3, 2018 (2018-01-03)

TBA (TBA)


document_title: Harlem Renaissance

question_text: what was a key theme of harlem renaissance writers

text: Harlem Renaissance

text: Background

text: Until the end of the Civil War, the majority of African Americans had been enslaved and lived in the South. During the Reconstruction Era, the emancipated African Americans, freedmen, began to strive for civic participation, political equality and economic and cultural self-determination. Soon after the end of the Civil War the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 gave rise to speeches by African-American Congressmen addressing this Bill.[8] By 1875 sixteen African Americans had been elected and served in Congress and gave numerous speeches with their newfound civil empowerment.[9] The Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 was denounced by black Congressmen[why?][dubious  – discuss] and resulted in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, part of Reconstruction legislation by Republicans. By the late 1870s, Democratic whites managed to regain power in the South. From 1890 to 1908 they proceeded to pass legislation that disenfranchised most African Americans and many poor whites, trapping them without representation. They established white supremacist regimes of Jim Crow segregation in the South and one-party block voting behind southern Democrats. The Democratic whites denied African Americans their exercise of civil and political rights by terrorizing black communities with lynch mobs and other forms of vigilante violence[10] as well as by instituting a convict labor system that forced many thousands of African Americans back into unpaid labor in mines, on plantations, and on public works projects such as roads and levees. Convict laborers were typically subject to brutal forms of corporal punishment, overwork, and disease from unsanitary conditions. Death rates were extraordinarily high.[11] While a small number of African Americans were able to acquire land shortly after the Civil War, most were exploited as sharecroppers.[12] As life in the South became increasingly difficult, African Americans began to migrate north in great numbers.

text: Most of the African-American literary movement arose from a generation that had memories of the gains and losses of Reconstruction after the Civil War. Sometimes their parents or grandparents had been slaves. Their ancestors had sometimes benefited by paternal investment in cultural capital, including better-than-average education. Many in the Harlem Renaissance were part of the early 20th century Great Migration out of the South into the African-American neighborhoods of the North and Midwest. African Americans sought a better standard of living and relief from the institutionalized racism in the South. Others were people of African descent from racially stratified communities in the Caribbean who came to the United States hoping for a better life. Uniting most of them was their convergence in Harlem.

text: Development

text: During the early portion of the 20th century, Harlem was the destination for migrants from around the country, attracting both people seeking work from the South, and an educated class who made the area a center of culture, as well as a growing "Negro" middle class. The district had originally been developed in the 19th century as an exclusive suburb for the white middle and upper middle classes; its affluent beginnings led to the development of stately houses, grand avenues, and world-class amenities such as the Polo Grounds and the Harlem Opera House. During the enormous influx of European immigrants in the late 19th century, the once exclusive district was abandoned by the white middle class, who moved farther north.

text: Harlem became an African-American neighborhood in the early 1900s. In 1910, a large block along 135th Street and Fifth Avenue was bought by various African-American realtors and a church group.[13][citation needed] Many more African Americans arrived during the First World War. Due to the war, the migration of laborers from Europe virtually ceased, while the war effort resulted in a massive demand for unskilled industrial labor. The Great Migration brought hundreds of thousands of African Americans to cities such as Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, and New York.

text: Despite the increasing popularity of Negro culture, virulent white racism, often by more recent ethnic immigrants, continued to affect African-American communities, even in the North.[14] After the end of World War I, many African-American soldiers—who fought in segregated units such as the Harlem Hellfighters—came home to a nation whose citizens often did not respect their accomplishments.[15] Race riots and other civil uprisings occurred throughout the US during the Red Summer of 1919, reflecting economic competition over jobs and housing in many cities, as well as tensions over social territories.

text: Mainstream recognition of Harlem culture

text: The first stage of the Harlem Renaissance started in the late 1910s. In 1917, the premiere of Three Plays for a Negro Theatre took place. These plays, written by white playwright Ridgely Torrence, featured African-American actors conveying complex human emotions and yearnings. They rejected the stereotypes of the blackface and minstrel show traditions. James Weldon Johnson in 1917 called the premieres of these plays "the most important single event in the entire history of the Negro in the American Theater".[16] Another landmark came in 1919, when the poet Claude McKay published his militant sonnet, "If We Must Die", which introduced a dramatically political dimension to the themes of African cultural inheritance and modern urban experience featured in his 1917 poems "Invocation" and "Harlem Dancer" (published under the pseudonym Eli Edwards, these were his first appearance in print in the United States after immigrating from Jamaica).[17] Although "If We Must Die" never alluded to race, African-American readers heard its note of defiance in the face of racism and the nationwide race riots and lynchings then taking place. By the end of the First World War, the fiction of James Weldon Johnson and the poetry of Claude McKay were describing the reality of contemporary African-American life in America.

text: In 1917 Hubert Harrison, "The Father of Harlem Radicalism," founded the Liberty League and The Voice, the first organization and the first newspaper, respectively, of the "New Negro Movement." Harrison's organization and newspaper were political, but also emphasized the arts (his newspaper had "Poetry for the People" and book review sections). In 1927, in the Pittsburgh Courier, Harrison challenged the notion of the renaissance. He argued that the "Negro Literary Renaissance" notion overlooked "the stream of literary and artistic products which had flowed uninterruptedly from Negro writers from 1850 to the present," and said the so-called "renaissance" was largely a white invention.

text: The Harlem Renaissance grew out of the changes that had taken place in the African-American community since the abolition of slavery, as the expansion of communities in the North. These accelerated as a consequence of World War I and the great social and cultural changes in early 20th-century United States. Industrialization was attracting people to cities from rural areas and gave rise to a new mass culture. Contributing factors leading to the Harlem Renaissance were the Great Migration of African Americans to northern cities, which concentrated ambitious people in places where they could encourage each other, and the First World War, which had created new industrial work opportunities for tens of thousands of people. Factors leading to the decline of this era include the Great Depression.

text: Religion

text:
Christianity played a major role in the Harlem Renaissance. Many of the writers and social critics discussed the role of
Christianity in African-American lives. For example, a famous poem by Langston Hughes, "Madam and the Minister", reflects the temperature and mood towards religion in the Harlem Renaissance.[18]
The cover story for The Crisis magazine′s publication in May 1936 explains how important Christianity was regarding the proposed union of the three largest Methodist churches of 1936. This article shows the controversial question about the formation of a Union for these churches.[19]
The article "The Catholic Church and the Negro Priest", also published in The Crisis, January 1920, demonstrates the obstacles African-American priests faced in the Catholic Church. The article confronts what it saw as policies based on race that excluded African Americans from higher positions in the church.[20]

text: Discourse

text:
Various forms of religious worship existed during this time of African-American intellectual reawakening.
Although there were racist attitudes within the current Abrahamic religious arenas many African Americans continued to push towards the practice of a more inclusive doctrine. For example, George Joseph MacWilliam presents various experiences, during his pursuit towards priesthood, of rejection on the basis of his color and race yet he shares his frustration in attempts to incite action on the part of The Crisis magazine community.[20]

text: There were other forms of spiritualism practiced among African Americans during the Harlem Renaissance. Some of these religions and philosophies were inherited from African ancestry. For example, the religion of Islam was present in Africa as early as the 8th century through the Trans-Saharan trade. Islam came to Harlem likely through the migration of members of the Moorish Science Temple of America, which was established in 1913 in New Jersey.[citation needed] Various forms of Judaism were practiced, including Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform Judaism, but it was Black Hebrew Israelites that founded their religious belief system during the early 20th century in the Harlem Renaissance.[citation needed] Traditional forms of religion acquired from various parts of Africa were inherited and practiced during this era. Some common examples were Voodoo and Santeria.[citation needed]

text: Criticism

text: Religious critique during this era was found in literature, art, and poetry. The Harlem Renaissance encouraged analytic dialogue that included the open critique and the adjustment of current religious ideas.

text: One of the major contributors to the discussion of African-American renaissance culture was Aaron Douglas who, with his artwork, also reflected the revisions African Americans were making to the Christian dogma. Douglas uses biblical imagery as inspiration to various pieces of art work but with the rebellious twist of an African influence.[21]

text: Countee Cullen's poem "Heritage" expresses the inner struggle of an African American between his past African heritage and the new Christian culture.[22] A more severe criticism of the Christian religion can be found in Langston Hughes' poem "Merry Christmas", where he exposes the irony of religion as a symbol for good and yet a force for oppression and injustice.[23]

text: Music

text: A new way of playing the piano called the Harlem Stride style was created during the Harlem Renaissance, and helped blur the lines between the poor African Americans and socially elite African Americans. The traditional jazz band was composed primarily of brass instruments and was considered a symbol of the south, but the piano was considered an instrument of the wealthy. With this instrumental modification to the existing genre, the wealthy African Americans now had more access to jazz music. Its popularity soon spread throughout the country and was consequently at an all-time high. Innovation and liveliness were important characteristics of performers in the beginnings of jazz. Jazz performers and composers at the time such as Eubie Blake, Noble Sissle, Jelly Roll Morton, Luckey Roberts, James P. Johnson, Willie "The Lion" Smith, Fats Waller and Duke Ellington were extremely talented, skillful, competitive and inspirational. They are still considered as having laid great parts of the foundations for future musicians of their genre.[24][25][26] Duke Ellington gained popularity during the Harlem Renaissance. According to Charles Garrett, "The resulting portrait of Ellington reveals him to be not only the gifted composer, bandleader, and musician we have come to know, but also an earthly person with basic desires, weaknesses, and eccentricities."[2] Ellington did not let his popularity get to him. He remained calm and focused on his music.

text: During this period, the musical style of blacks was becoming more and more attractive to whites. White novelists, dramatists and composers started to exploit the musical tendencies and themes of African Americans in their works. Composers used poems written by African-American poets in their songs, and would implement the rhythms, harmonies and melodies of African-American music—such as blues, spirituals, and jazz—into their concert pieces. African Americans began to merge with Whites into the classical world of musical composition. The first African-American male to gain wide recognition as a concert artist in both his region and internationally was Roland Hayes. He trained with Arthur Calhoun in Chattanooga, and at Fisk University in Nashville. Later, he studied with Arthur Hubbard in Boston and with George Henschel and Amanda Ira Aldridge in London, England. He began singing in public as a student, and toured with the Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1911.[27]

text: Fashion

text: During the Harlem Renaissance, the black clothing scene took a dramatic turn from the prim and proper. Many young women preferred- from short skirts and silk stockings to drop-waisted dresses and cloche hats.[28] Woman wore loose-fitted garments and accessorized with long strand pearl bead necklaces, feather boas, and cigarette holders. The fashion of the Harlem Renaissance was used to convey elegance and flamboyancy and needed to be created with the vibrant dance style of the 1920s in mind.[29] Popular by the 1930s was a trendy, egret-trimmed beret.

text: Men wore loose suits that led to the later style known as the "Zoot," which consisted of wide-legged, high-waisted, peg-top trousers, and a long coat with padded shoulders and wide lapels. Men also wore wide-brimmed hats, colored socks,[30] white gloves, and velvet-collared Chesterfield coats. During this period, African Americans expressed respect for their heritage through a fad for leopard-skin coats, indicating the power of the African animal.

text: The extraordinarily successful black dancer Josephine Baker, though performing in Paris during the height of the Renaissance, was a major fashion trendsetter for black and white women alike. Her gowns from the couturier Jean Patou were much copied, especially her stage costumes, which Vogue magazine called "startling." Josephine Baker is also credited for highlighting the "art deco" fashion era after she performed the "Danse Sauvage". During this Paris performance she adorned a skirt made of string and artificial bananas. Ethel Moses was another popular black performer, Moses starred in silent films in the 1920s and 30s and was recognizable by her signature bob hairstyle.

text: Characteristics and themes

text: Characterizing the Harlem Renaissance was an overt racial pride that came to be represented in the idea of the New Negro, who through intellect and production of literature, art, and music could challenge the pervading racism and stereotypes to promote progressive or socialist politics, and racial and social integration. The creation of art and literature would serve to "uplift" the race.

text: There would be no uniting form singularly characterizing the art that emerged from the Harlem Renaissance. Rather, it encompassed a wide variety of cultural elements and styles, including a Pan-African perspective, "high-culture" and "low-culture" or "low-life," from the traditional form of music to the blues and jazz, traditional and new experimental forms in literature such as modernism and the new form of jazz poetry. This duality meant that numerous African-American artists came into conflict with conservatives in the black intelligentsia, who took issue with certain depictions of black life.

text: Some common themes represented during the Harlem Renaissance were the influence of the experience of slavery and emerging African-American folk traditions on black identity, the effects of institutional racism, the dilemmas inherent in performing and writing for elite white audiences, and the question of how to convey the experience of modern black life in the urban North.

text: The Harlem Renaissance was one of primarily African-American involvement. It rested on a support system of black patrons, black-owned businesses and publications. However, it also depended on the patronage of white Americans, such as Carl Van Vechten and Charlotte Osgood Mason, who provided various forms of assistance, opening doors which otherwise might have remained closed to the publication of work outside the black American community. This support often took the form of patronage or publication. Carl Van Vechten was one of the most noteworthy white Americans involved with the Harlem Renaissance. He allowed for assistance to the black American community because he wanted racial sameness.

text: There were other whites interested in so-called "primitive" cultures, as many whites viewed black American culture at that time, and wanted to see such "primitivism" in the work coming out of the Harlem Renaissance. As with most fads, some people may have been exploited in the rush for publicity.

text: Interest in African-American lives also generated experimental but lasting collaborative work, such as the all-black productions of George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess, and Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein's Four Saints in Three Acts. In both productions the choral conductor Eva Jessye was part of the creative team. Her choir was featured in Four Saints.[31] The music world also found white band leaders defying racist attitudes to include the best and the brightest African-American stars of music and song in their productions.

text: The African Americans used art to prove their humanity and demand for equality. The Harlem Renaissance led to more opportunities for blacks to be published by mainstream houses. Many authors began to publish novels, magazines and newspapers during this time. The new fiction attracted a great amount of attention from the nation at large. Among authors who became nationally known were Jean Toomer, Jessie Fauset, Claude McKay, Zora Neale Hurston, James Weldon Johnson, Alain Locke, Omar Al Amiri, Eric D. Walrond and Langston Hughes.

text: Richard Bruce Nugent (1906–1987) who wrote "Smoke, Lilies, and Jade" is an important contribution, especially in relation to experimental form and LGBT themes in the period.[32]

text: The Harlem Renaissance helped lay the foundation for the post-World War II protest movement of the Civil Rights Movement. Moreover, many black artists who rose to creative maturity afterward were inspired by this literary movement.

text: The Renaissance was more than a literary or artistic movement, as it possessed a certain sociological development—particularly through a new racial consciousness—through ethnic pride, as seen in the Back to Africa movement led by Marcus Garvey. At the same time, a different expression of ethnic pride, promoted by W. E. B. Du Bois, introduced the notion of the "talented tenth": the African Americans  who were fortunate enough to inherit money or property or obtain a college degree during the transition from Reconstruction to the Jim Crow period of the early twentieth century. These "talented tenth" were considered the finest examples of the worth of black Americans as a response to the rampant racism of the period. (No particular leadership was assigned to the talented tenth, but they were to be emulated.) In both literature and popular discussion, complex ideas such as Du Bois's concept of "twoness" (dualism) were introduced (see The Souls of Black Folk; 1903).[33] Du Bois explored a divided awareness of one's identity that was a unique critique of the social ramifications of racial consciousness. This exploration was later revived during the Black Pride movement of the early 1970s.

text: Influence

text: A new Black identity

text:
"Sometimes I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can anyone deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It's beyond me."
- Zora Neale Hurston[34]

text: The Harlem Renaissance was successful in that it brought the Black experience clearly within the corpus of American cultural history. Not only through an explosion of culture, but on a sociological level, the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance redefined how America, and the world, viewed African Americans. The migration of southern Blacks to the north changed the image of the African American from rural, undereducated peasants to one of urban, cosmopolitan sophistication. This new identity led to a greater social consciousness, and African Americans became players on the world stage, expanding intellectual and social contacts internationally.

text: The progress—both symbolic and real—during this period became a point of reference from which the African-American community gained a spirit of self-determination that provided a growing sense of both Black urbanity and Black militancy, as well as a foundation for the community to build upon for the Civil Rights struggles in the 1950s and 1960s.

text: The urban setting of rapidly developing Harlem provided a venue for African Americans of all backgrounds to appreciate the variety of Black life and culture. Through this expression, the Harlem Renaissance encouraged the new appreciation of folk roots and culture. For instance, folk materials and spirituals provided a rich source for the artistic and intellectual imagination, which freed Blacks from the establishment of past condition. Through sharing in these cultural experiences, a consciousness sprung forth in the form of a united racial identity.

text: However, there was some pressure within certain groups of the Harlem Renaissance to adopt sentiments of conservative white America in order to be taken seriously by the mainstream. The result being that queer culture, while far-more accepted in Harlem than most places in the country at the time, was most fully lived out in the smoky dark lights of bars, nightclubs, and cabarets in the city.[35] It was within these venues that the blues music scene boomed, and since it had not yet gained recognition within popular culture, queer artists used it as a way to express themselves honestly.[35] Even though there were factions within the Renaissance that were accepting of queer culture/lifestyles, one could still be arrested for engaging in homosexual acts. Many people, including author Alice Dunbar-Nelson and "The Mother of Blues" Gertrude "Ma" Rainey,[36] had husbands but were romantically linked to other women as well.[37] Ma Rainey was known to dress in traditionally male clothing and her blues lyrics often reflected her sexual proclivities for women, which was extremely radical at the time. Ma Rainey was also the first person to introduce blues music into vaudeville.[38] Rainey's protégé, Bessie Smith was another artist who used the blues as a way to express herself with such lines as "When you see two women walking hand in hand, just look em' over and try to understand: They'll go to those parties – have the lights down low – only those parties where women can go."[35]

text: Another prominent blues singer was Gladys Bentley, who was known to cross-dress. Bentley was the club owner of Clam House on 133rd Street in Harlem, which was a hub for queer patrons. The Hamilton Lodge in Harlem hosted an annual drag ball that attracted thousands to watch as a couple hundred young men came to dance the night away in drag. Though there were safe havens within Harlem, there were prominent voices such as that of Abyssinian Baptist Church's minister Adam Clayton who actively campaigned against homosexuality.[37]

text: The Harlem Renaissance gave birth to the idea of The New Negro. The New Negro movement was an effort to define what it meant to be African-American by African Americans rather than let the degrading stereotypes and caricatures found in black face minstrelsy practices to do so. There was also The Neo-New Negro movement, which not only challenged racial definitions and stereotypes, but also sought to challenge gender roles, normative sexuality, and sexism in America in general. In this respect, the Harlem Renaissance was far ahead of the rest of America in terms of embracing feminism and queer culture.[39] These ideals received some push back as freedom of sexuality, particularly pertaining to women (which during the time in Harlem was known as women-loving women),[36] was seen as confirming the stereotype that black women were loose and lacked sexual discernment. The black bourgeoisie saw this as hampering the cause of black people in America and giving fuel to the fire of racist sentiments around the country. Yet for all of the efforts by both sectors of white and conservative black America, queer culture and artists defined major portions of not only the Harlem Renaissance, but also defined so much of our culture today. Author of "The Black Man's Burden", Henry Louis Gates Jr. wrote on this very subject matter, the Harlem Renaissance "was surely as gay as it was black".[39]

text: Criticism of the movement

text: Many critics point out that the Harlem Renaissance could not escape its history and culture in its attempt to create a new one, or sufficiently separate from the foundational elements of White, European culture. Often Harlem intellectuals, while proclaiming a new racial consciousness, resorted to mimicry of their white counterparts by adopting their clothing, sophisticated manners and etiquette. This "mimicry" may also be called assimilation, as that is typically what minority members of any social construct must do in order to fit social norms created by that construct's majority.[40] This could be seen as a reason that the artistic and cultural products of the Harlem Renaissance did not overcome the presence of White-American values, and did not reject these values. In this regard, the creation of the "New Negro" as the Harlem intellectuals sought, was considered a success.

text: The Harlem Renaissance appealed to a mixed audience. The literature appealed to the African-American middle class and to whites.  Magazines such as The Crisis, a monthly journal of the NAACP, and Opportunity, an official publication of the National Urban League, employed Harlem Renaissance writers on their editorial staffs; published poetry and short stories by black writers; and promoted African-American literature through articles, reviews, and annual literary prizes. As important as these literary outlets were, however, the Renaissance relied heavily on white publishing houses and white-owned magazines. A major accomplishment of the Renaissance was to open the door to mainstream white periodicals and publishing houses, although the relationship between the Renaissance writers and white publishers and audiences created some controversy. W. E. B. Du Bois did not oppose the relationship between black writers and white publishers, but he was critical of works such as Claude McKay's bestselling novel Home to Harlem (1928) for appealing to the "prurient demand[s]" of white readers and publishers for portrayals of black "licentiousness".[41] Langston Hughes spoke for most of the writers and artists when he wrote in his essay "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" (1926) that black artists intended to express themselves freely, no matter what the black public or white public thought.[42] Hughes in his writings also returned to the theme of racial passing, but during the Harlem Renaissance, he began to explore the topic of homosexuality and homophobia. He began to use disruptive language in his writings. He explored this topic because it was a theme that during this time period was not discussed.[43]

text: African-American musicians and other performers also played to mixed audiences. Harlem's cabarets and clubs attracted both Harlem residents and white New Yorkers seeking out Harlem nightlife. Harlem's famous Cotton Club, where Duke Ellington performed, carried this to an extreme, by providing black entertainment for exclusively white audiences. Ultimately, the more successful black musicians and entertainers who appealed to a mainstream audience moved their performances downtown.

text: Certain aspects of the Harlem Renaissance were accepted without debate, and without scrutiny. One of these was the future of the "New Negro". Artists and intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance echoed American progressivism in its faith in democratic reform, in its belief in art and literature as agents of change, and in its almost uncritical belief in itself and its future. This progressivist worldview rendered Black intellectuals—just like their White counterparts—unprepared for the rude shock of the Great Depression, and the Harlem Renaissance ended abruptly because of naive assumptions about the centrality of culture, unrelated to economic and social realities.[citation needed]


document_title: 1968 Special Olympics Summer World Games

question_text: where were the first international special olympics summer games held

text: This article does not cite any sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: The First International Special Olympics Games (Summer Special Olympics) were held in Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois on July 20, 1968.

text: 1,000 athletes from 26 states, and Canada competed in track and swimming. Swimming included 25 meter races, and track had short distance runnings, ball throws, and standing long jump.

text: The athlete's oath was introduced at these games by founder Eunice Shriver at the opening ceremony. The oath is, "Let me win. But if I can not win, let me be brave in the attempt."


document_title: Union Public Service Commission

question_text: the union public service commission submits an annual report on its work to

text: Union Public Service Commission

text: History[edit]

text: The Royal Commission on the superior Civil Services in India was set up under the chairmanship of Lord Lee of Fareham by the British Government in 1923.[10][8] With equal numbers of Indian and British members, the commission submitted its report in 1924, recommending setting up of a Public Service Commission.[11] The Lee Commission proposed that 40% of future entrants should be British, 40% Indians directly recruited, and 20% Indians promoted from the provincial services.[10][9]

text: This led to the establishment of the first Public Service Commission on 1 October 1926 under the chairmanship of Sir Ross Barker.[8] A mere limited advisory function was granted to the Public Service Commission and the leaders of the freedom movement continually stressed on this aspect, which then resulted in the setting up of a Federal Public Service Commission under the Government of India Act, 1935.[8][9]

text: The Federal Public Service Commission became the Union Public Service Commission after independence. It was given a constitutional status with under of Constitution of India on 26 January 1950.[11][9][12]

text: Constitutional status[edit]

text: Articles 315 to 323 of Part XIV of the constitution, titled as Services Under the Union and the States, provide for a Public Service Commission for the Union and for each state.[5][6] Accordingly, as per Art. 315, at Union level, Union Public Service Commission is envisaged by it. UPSC is amongst the few institutions which function with both autonomy and freedom, along with the country’s higher judiciary and lately the Election Commission.[7]

text: Appointment[edit]

text: As per Art. 316, the Chairman and other members of Union Public Service Commission shall be appointed by the President. In case the office of the Chairman becomes vacant his duties shall be performed by one of the other members of the Commission as the President may appoint for the purpose.[13]

text: Also, nearly half of the members of the Commission shall be persons who at the dates of their respective appointments have held office for at least ten years either under the Government of India or under the Government of a State. A member of a Union Public Service Commission shall hold office for a term of six years from the date on which he enters upon his office or until he attains the age of sixty-five years, whichever is earlier. Under Art 318, the President is empowered to determine number of members of the Commission and their conditions of service. Further, he can make provision with respect to the number of members of the staff of the Commission and their conditions of service too. Also, conditions of service cannot be varied to his disadvantage after his appointment.[13]

text: As per Art 319, a person who holds office as Chairman shall, on the expiration of his term of office, be ineligible for re-appointment to that office. But, a member other than the Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission shall be eligible for appointment as the Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission, or as the Chairman of a State Public Service Commission, but not for any other employment either under the Government of India or under the Government of a State. Also, the Chairman of a State Public Service Commission shall be eligible for appointment as the Chairman or any other member of the Union Public Service Commission.[13]

text: Removal and suspension[edit]

text: As per Art. 317, the Chairman or any other member of a Public Service Commission shall only be removed from his office by order of the President on the ground of "misbehaviour" after the Supreme Court, on reference being made to it by the President, has, on inquiry reported that the Chairman or such other member ought to be removed. The President may suspend the Chairman or other member of the Commission until report of the Supreme Court is received.[13]

text: The President may also remove the Chairman or any other member of the commission if he/she:

text:
is adjudged an insolvent; or
engages during his term of office in any paid employment outside the duties of his office; or
is, in the opinion of the President, unfit to continue in office by reason of infirmity of mind or body.

text: If the Chairman or any other member cannot hold an office of profit or otherwise he shall be deemed to be guilty of misbehaviour.[13]

text: Functions[edit]

text: As per Art. 320, it shall be the duty of the Union Public Service Commissions to conduct examinations for appointments to the services of the Union. It shall also assist two or more States, if requested so, in framing and operating schemes of joint recruitment for any services.[13]

text: The Union Public Service Commission shall be consulted:

text:
on all matters relating to
methods of recruitment to civil services and for civil posts
making appointments to civil services and posts
making promotions and transfers from one service to another
the suitability of candidates for such appointments, promotions or transfers
on all disciplinary matters against a civil servant serving in a civil capacity, including memorials or petitions relating to such matters.
on any claim by or in respect of a person who is serving or has served in a civil capacity, that any costs incurred by him in defending legal proceedings instituted against him in respect of acts done or purporting to be done in the execution of his duty should be paid out of the Consolidated Fund of India.
on any claim for the award of a pension in respect of injuries sustained by a person while serving in a civil capacity, and any question as to the amount of such award.

text: It shall be the duty of a Union Public Service Commission to advise on any matter referred to them; provided that the President has not made any regulations specifying the matters in which it shall not be necessary for Union Public Service Commission to be consulted.[13]

text: Expenses[edit]

text: As per Art. 322, the expenses of the Union Public Service Commission, including any salaries, allowances and pensions payable to or in respect of the members or staff of the Commission, shall be charged on the Consolidated Fund of India.[13]

text: Extension of functions[edit]

text: As per Art. 321, an Act made by Parliament may provide for the exercise of additional functions by the Union Public Service Commission w.r.t. services of the Union.[13]

text: Reporting[edit]

text: As per Art. 323, it shall be the duty of the Union Commission to annually present a report to the President of the work done by the Commission. On receipt of such report, the President shall present a copy before each House of Parliament; together with a memorandum, if any, explaining the reasons where the advice of the Commission was not accepted by him.[13]

text: Organisational structure[edit]

text: The Commission consists of a chairman and other members appointed by The President of India. Usually, the Commission consists of 9 to 11 members including the chairman.[14] Every member holds office for a term of six years or until he attains the age of sixty-five years, whichever is earlier.

text: The terms and conditions of service of chairman and members of the Commission are governed by the Union Public Service Commission (Members) Regulations, 1969.[15]

text: The chairman and any other member of the Commission can submit his resignation at any time to the President of India. He may be removed from his office by the President of India on the ground of misbehaviour (only if an inquiry of such misbehaviour is made and upheld by Supreme Court) or if he is adjudged insolvent, or engages during his term of office in any paid employment outside the duties of his office, or in the opinion of the President unfit to continue in office by reason of infirmity of mind or body.

text: Secretariat[edit]

text: The Commission is serviced by a Secretariat headed by a Secretary with four Additional Secretaries, a number of Joint Secretaries, Deputy Secretaries and other supporting staff.[16] The secretariat, for administrative purpose, is further divided into divisions, each undertaking a specific responsibility:[17]

text:
Administration: Administers the Secretariat as well as looks after personal matters of Chairman/Members and other Officers/Staff of the Commission.[18]
All India Services: Recruitment to All India Services is done either by direct recruitment (through Competitive Examinations) or by promotion from the State Service. The AIS Branch handles the promotions of State Service officers to the IAS, IPS and IFS. It also handles policy matters relating to All India Services and amendments in the 'Promotion Regulations' of respective services.[19]
Appointments: It carry out appointments to central services based on Promotion(based on proposals from various Ministries/Departments/Union Territories and from certain local bodies) and by the means of Deputation and Absorption.[20]
Examination: It carries out merit-based selection and recommendation of candidates, through various examinations, to Group A and Group B Services of the Government of India.[21]
General: Primarily deals with day-to-day housekeeping works for Commission, like, arrangements and facilitation for conduction of Examinations by the UPSC, printing Annual Report etc.[22]
Recruitment: This branch carries out Direct Recruitment(out of the 3 possible mechanisms of : 'direct recruitment', 'recruitment by promotion' and 'recruitment by transfer and permanent absorption') by selection to all Group `A’ and certain Group `B’ posts of the services of the Union (including some Union Territories). These recruitment are done either by selection(interview) or through competitive examination.[23]
Recruitment Rules: The Commission is mandated under Art. 320 of the Constitution of India, read along the UPSC (Exemption from Consultation) Regulations, 1958, to advise on framing and amending of Recruitment and Service Rules for various Group A and Group B posts in the Government of India, and certain autonomous organizations like EPFO, ESIC, DJB, NDMC & Municipal Corporations(s) of Delhi. This Branch carries out this responsibility by facilitating the Ministries / Departments / UT Administrations / Autonomous Organisations in this regard.[24]
Services I: Handles disciplinary cases received from various Ministries/Departments and State Governments for advice of the Commission, as required under Article 320 (3)(c).
Services II: Handles all other cases that 'Services I' branch doesn't. It compiles the Annual Report. Also, it coordinates visits of foreign delegations, correspondence with foreign countries and hosting of international events concerning Public Service Commissions, including the SAARC Member States.

text: Present members[edit]

text: The commission has 8 members including the Chairman, who are:[25]

text:
Arvind Saxena (Chairman)
Prof. Dr. Pradeep Kumar Joshi
Bhim Sain Bassi
Air Marshal A. S. Bhonsle (Retd.)
Sujata Mehta
Dr. Manoj Soni[2]
Smita Nagaraj[3]
M. Sathiyavathy[1]

text: List of all chairman[edit]

text: Following is the list of Chairmen of UPSC:[26]

text:
List of UPSC Chairmen (since inception)
hide

Chairman

Term

Background

From

To

Sir Ross Barker
October 1926

August 1932

Sir David Petrie
August 1932

1936

Sir Eyre Gorden
1937

1942

Sir F. W. Robertson
1942

1947

H. K. Kripalani
April 1947

January 1949

R. N. Banerjee
January 1949

May 1955

N. Govindarajan
May 1955

December 1955

V. S. Hejmadi
December 1955

December 1961

B. N. Jha
December 1961

February 1967

K. R. Damle
April 1967

March 1971

R.C.S. Sarkar
May 1971

February 1973
Academician, West Bengal Civil Services Officer

A. R. Kidwai
February 1973

February 1979

M. L. Shahare
February 1979

February 1985

H. K. L. Capoor
February 1985

March 1990

J. P. Gupta
March 1990

June 1992

R. M. Bathew (Kharbuli)
September 1992

August 1996

S. J. S. Chhatwal
August 1996

September 1996

J. M. Qureshi
September 1996

December 1998

Lt. Gen. Surinder Nath
December 1998

June 2002

P. C. Hota
June 2002

September 2003

Mata Prasad
September 2003

January 2005
Indian Administrative Service of 1962 Batch

S. R. Hashim
January 2005

April 2006

D. P. Agrawal
August 2008

August 2014
Academician

Rajni Razdan
August 2014[27]

November 2014
Indian Administrative Service Officer of 1973 Batch, Haryana cadre[28]

Deepak Gupta
November 2014

September 2016
Indian Administrative Service Officer of 1974 Batch, Jharkhand cadre[29][30]

Alka Sirohi
September 21, 2016

January 3, 2017
Indian Administrative Service Officer of 1974 Batch,[31] Madhya Pradesh cadre[32]

David R. Syiemlieh
January 4, 2017

January 21, 2018
Academician[33] and former Vice-Chancellor of the Rajiv Gandhi University, Itanagar[34]

Vinay Mittal
January 22, 2018

June 19, 2018
Former Chairman of the Railway Board and Indian Railway Traffic Service Officer of 1975 Batch[35]

Arvind Saxena
June 20, 2018

till date
Indian Postal Service Officer of 1978 Batch and an Officer of the Research and Analysis Wing[36]